STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 307 



find some varieties utterly unknown one hundred miles east, and 

 at Veronish we found varieties not known on the Volga, while 

 neither at Orel or Veronish were the most popular winter fruits of 

 the Volga section known even by the directors of pomological gar- 

 dens supported by the government. 



For the first time we find here the form of mulberry which has 

 been much lauded with us under the name of " Russian Cut-leaved." 

 At Orel it is considerably grown, but it is not considered perfectly 

 hardy. During extreme winter it is killed back, but it comes again, 

 aud bears much fruit in a brief time. The story of its use as a tim- 

 ber tree of Russia has no foundation. It is a small sized tree with 

 shrubby habit of growth even farther south where it is perfectly 

 hardy. Yet I think it will prove a neat ornamental tree on lawns, 

 and will be worth growing for its fruit in a large portion of Iowa. 

 We are ordering scions, plants, and seeds from various points in 

 Russia, partly because we can only in this way secure varieties true 

 to name, and partly because a division of the orders may secure 

 safe transit for at least a part. In some cases we duplicate orders 

 where we have doubts as to the identity of varieties. 



OBSERVATIONS AT ANOTHER POINT. 



Kursk, Russia, Sept. 21. 



This is another ancient city noted for its gardens during the 

 past two hundred years. Literally within and around the city it 

 is one great garden of fruit trees, where an available spot can be 

 found for planting a tree. 



***** ***** 



The horticulture of this region is intensely interesting to us. It 

 is the home of the wild apples and pears spoken of by Humphrey, 

 Loudan, Liudley, Koch and other European botanists. In the 

 forests we find the pear a common tree and as healthy and hardy 

 as the indigenous oak. The isolated trees on the border have a 

 cultivated look, and many of them bear fruit which is especially 

 prized by the peasants. The apples also have a look of cultivated 

 varieties with the thick, pubescent leaf peculiar to the Russian 

 sorts. The fruit is not astringent, but small in size. As it keeps 

 well, the peasants use it after it has been frozen. In isolated posi- 

 tions where the soil is good, the wild apples and pears attain large 

 size. Whether they are truly indigenous no one can tell, as this 

 portion of the steppes has plantations of forest trees with known 

 records that are over two hundred years old. 



